That’s your lot for this one. Now head over to Jacob Steinberg’s minute-by-minute of Everton v Manchester City, and we’ll also have a couple of Spanish games for you later too.
Cheers, and thanks for reading.
Updated
Dogged stuff then for Chelsea, some fine defending combined with a couple of brilliant individual performances in attack from Pedro and Costa. Their first win of the season is gained despite their captain’s red card, and while they would probably have preferred a fuss-free 3-0 win or something, that might prove pretty valuable in the long run.
Full-time: West Brom 2-3 Chelsea
Peeeeeeeeeeeeep. Mourinho celebrates with no little anger after what, in the end, was a terrific win.
90 mins + 5: Yacob launches a long ball into the box, but Courtois does splendidly to hang onto it, and that should be that. Probably...
90 mins + 3: Brunt swings a deep cross over from the left, Lambert knocks it down at the back stick, Cahill attempts to chest it behind but can only direct it to Rondon, who shoots powerfully but Courtois spreads himself to make an excellent save.
90 mins + 2: Azpilicueta plays forwards to Falcao, but he somehow manages to spin the ball over his own shoulder with his chest, and it goes through to Myhill.
90 mins: Hazard wins a free-kick on the left in what we’ll describe as a ‘professional’ manner, getting himself between the ball and Gnabry, then going to ground. The referee asks them to take it again as he hadn’t quite finished with the vanishing spray. Five minutes of added time.
88 mins: Brunt cuts in from the left and shoots, but it skims about a foot over the bar. Final change for the Baggies, as Craig Gardner comes on for Morrison.
87 mins: Excellent play from Hazard to make space for himself on the left side of the box, then line up a shot after leaving Dawson on his pants, but the effort is dragged across goal and wide.
86 mins: Gnabry looks like he’s trying to make a name for himself. He shifts the ball to himself about 25 yards out, but the eventual shot is scuffed and easily saved.
85 mins: Fabregas tries to slip a ball through to Falcao behind the West Brom defence, but the striker was looking the other way which...wasn’t ideal.
84 mins: Sub for Chelsea, as the excellent Pedro is replaced by John Obi Mikel. You see what Mourinho is trying to do, but taking off their two best attacking players (in this match) and going defensive could be asking for trouble.
83 mins: Chelsea’s shorts fade out at the bottom like someone didn’t quite have enough dye when making them.
82 mins: Gnabry, after spinning Fabregas to the delight of the home and presumably Arsenal fans, gets a little giddy by cutting in from the left and hoying a shot way, way over the bar.
80 mins: Chance for Falcao, neatly teed up by Pedro, but he both misses a presentable opportunity and falls over.
Updated
78 mins: A change for West Brom too, as Serge Gnabry is on for McManaman.
77 mins: Great chance for Costa, who makes room for himself on the edge of the area, shifts to his right for the shot but curls it over. And that’s his last action of the game, as Radamel Falcao is on in his place. Costa shakes hands with the ref then gives Yacob a hug on the way off. Textbook.
76 mins: The home crowd are really up for it now. A corner swings over but Courtois claims with some ease.
75 mins: Well, turns out Chelsea aren’t that boring after all, eh?
73 mins: Marie Meyer writes: ‘The Chelsea medical staff at the start of this season are what the vanishing spray was at the start of last season: an opportunity for the crowd to send up an ironic cheer and have a good laugh.’
72 mins: Incredibly close for West Brom. McManaman twists Ivanovic’s blood by going outside, then leaves the Serb on his ample buttocks by coming inside, but his right-footed shot doesn’t have quite enough curl on it and it goes wide of the far-post.
71 mins: McManaman gets a booking for kicking the ball away. Haven’t seen one of those for a while. They’ll be penalising foul throws next.
69 mins: There’s a whole to-do about whether Ivanovic is allowed to take the throw-in after coming back in. Or not coming on. All fairly tedious, move along.
68 mins: The home crowd enjoy some ‘banter’ as the Chelsea medical staff come on to deal with Ivanovic, who clashed heads with Brunt. How long before ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ to the Chelsea physios gets old? Already?
Updated
67 mins: Rondon goes close for West Brom, hitting a half-volley on the spin from the edge of the area, that goes through a thicket of legs before going just wide.
66 mins: Matic, on a booking, gives away a free-kick by shoving Rondon to the ground as they both go for a header, all while not looking at the ball. Tightrope, and all that.
65 mins: The curse of Radamel.
Maybe Radamel Falcao is just bad luck to have around
— Alexander Netherton (@lxndrnthrtn) August 23, 2015
63 mins: Close for Chelsea! Brilliant play by Costa to first swing a pass out to Pedro on the right, then scamper to the far post and get on the end of the cross, but it was a devilishly difficult one to control, and he did well in the end to fire his left-footed effort a yard or so wide of the near-post.
60 mins: West Brom still going for it - Rickie Lambert has come on for McClean, who receives a few boos from somewhere. Grow up, eh?
59 mins: An absolutely brilliant whipped, in-swinging, right-footed cross from the left by McManaman that flies in at head-height all the way is flicked on by Morrison, and it kisses the bar before going in. Game. On.
GOAL! West Brom 2-3 Chelsea (Morrison 59)
What a game!
57 mins: Costa backs in to Olsson in textbook fashion, thus winning a free-kick about 25 yards out. Matic shoots, it curls just round the wall and skips just in front of Myhill, who does reasonably well to shove the ball wide.
56 mins: Rondon tries the shot from the free-kick, but it clips the top of the wall and goes over. From the corner it reaches Brunt on the edge of the box, but his right-footed effort is fairly weak and is easily saved.
55 mins: That was marginally outside the box - really, really marginally - so it’s a free-kick. Terry takes his sweet time trudging off, giving Mourinho time to make the required substitution, which sees Willian make way for Gary Cahill.
JOHN TERRY SENT OFF!
A brilliant ball through by Brunt is collected by Rondon, but he receives a very slight pull from Terry, goes down, and that’s a red card.
Updated
52 mins: Yacob and Costa are having a little tiff, born from some grappling at set pieces, and they’re given a sound talking to by the fearsome Clattenburg. Costa actually did that ‘lean your head in so it’s not really a headbutt, but people have been sent off for less before’ thing, so he actually might be a bit lucky that Clattenburg wasn’t in a more ‘red cardy’ mood.
50 mins: McClean takes out Hazard on the left corner of the box, and Chelsea try something sneaky. Fabregas squares across the area for Hazard, who tees up Pedro but his shot is deflected wide.
48 mins: Fletcher belts a ball upfield looking for Rondon, but there’s far too much on it and it sails over the striker’s head, Courtois claiming it on the half-volley.
47 mins: Mark Clattenburg has his hands on his hips. Not sure what’s vexing him, but you don’t want to annoy Clatts. He’ll scowl at you in a slightly patronising manner and everything.
46 mins: The second 45: underway. Still raining, happily.
Good game, this. Also a fairly weird one. Chelsea have been the better team, but perhaps not ‘3-1 at half-time better’. West Brom have had some very presentable chances, not least the missed penalty from Morrison, that he wrestled off Brunt to take. We can expect some ex-pros to sadly shake their heads and talk about team spirit after that one.
Half-time: West Brom 1-3 Chelsea
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Updated
45 mins + 2: Olsson gives the ball away to Willian, who gives it to Hazard. The Belgian takes it to the byline, then cuts it back to Azpilicueta - clearly with a taste for goals now - but he shoots in more of the manner you might expect from a full-back.
45 mins: Two minutes of stoppage time. Fabregas curls a free kick from deep into the box, but McAuley heads clear.
44 mins: Heresy from Mike in Canada here: ‘Nothing personal but I think I’d keep the Guardian MBM gig while you’re working on your comedy career! Be content with what you have.
‘As Clint Eastwood once said in one of the Dirty Harry movies:
“A man’s got to know his limitations ...”
42 mins: Fabregas dinks a ball to Costa on the edge of the box, the big man brings it down while falling - possibly due to a tug by McAuley - but the ball drops to Azpilicueta, picking up the knock-down like a latter-day Kevin Phillips, and he scuffs a shot through McAuley’s legs (and possibly Dawson’s too) that trickles just inside the post.
GOAL! West Brom 1-3 Chelsea (Azpilicueta 42)
Well, that was weird.
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40 mins: Great chance for Chelsea. Olsson dives in on Pedro but the wee man skips twinklingly over the challenge, creates more space for himself and ponders the shot, before shifting inside to Willian about 15 yards out, the goal at his relative mercy, but he puts the side-footed effort wide. Should’ve scored, and Mourinho looks like a dog has taken a dump in his trainers.
39 mins: West Brom have a sniff here. They shift the ball around on the edge of the box, before it finds McClean out on the left, but his effort from a tricky angle is saved by Courtois. He launches a counter-attack but this time Willian can’t be quite as incisive as before, firing his shot over the bar.
37 mins: Although, as it turns out, it didn’t.
36 mins: McClean goes into the book for a fairly daft foul on Pedro out on the Chelsea right, that could give them a chance from the set-piece.
35 mins: A cross from the left looks like it will sail into irrelevance, but Rondon extends a go-go Gadget leg and hooks it back into the area, where Morrison steadies himself before drilling it home.
GOAL! West Brom 1-2 Chelsea (Morrison 35)
Comeback on?
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34 mins: Brief moment of hope for West Brom as Rondon barrels through the middle after Zouma slips, but he can’t take advantage of the slapstick.
“As a Blues fan, you learn to trust Jose,” muses Fungai Chigumbura. “If he believes, we believe. If he doesn’t...well, you get the picture. And right now, he seems nonplussed. We need a win, but my feelings are not particularly optimistic. Hopefully Pulis doesn’t become the first to get those three victories against Jose.”
Thanks Fungai, although I nearly didn’t have mushroom for your email.
SEE! GEDDIT! DO YOU? And they said I couldn’t do comedy.
32 mins: Willian is on the charge again, dashing through the middle and shooting low, and left-footed, but without a huge amount of power. Myhill saves, but does so with a full-length dive and with a bit more of a struggle that the pace of the effort merited.
30 mins: Brilliantly rapid stuff from Chelsea. That corner is cleared, Willian charges through the middle then feeds Pedro on the right of the area, who either skids a low ball across the box or drags a shot (depending on how charitable you’re feeling) into the path of Costa, who is just onside as he sticks it into the empty net.
GOAL! West Brom 0-2 Chelsea (Costa 30)
What a counter!
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29 mins: Smart work by McManaman down the right, lollipopping himself into enough space against Azpilicueta to get a cross-shot thing away, but Courtois saves and shovels the thing behind for a corner.
27 mins: A Chelsea corner is cleared, finding Fabregas deep. He clips the ball over the top looking for Costa, but he collides with his own teammate, Matic, in a pleasingly slapstick manner.
26 mins: Morrison gets the last warning and a finger wag from Clattenburg, although he was pretty lucky to get away with a late lunge on Hazard.
25 mins: Some nice pressing from West Brom, right up the pitch. It forces Hazard - collecting the ball right in front of his defence for some reason - and then Terry into some evasive action.
22 mins: Pedro sticks over a corner that McClean slices up in the air, it drops back to him and he slices it again, out of play. Actually, it might just have been out of play anyway. Still, double slice, twice as nice. As a side note, pleasingly enough it doesn’t sound like McClean has been booed in this one, as he has previously.
20 mins: Reasonably simple stuff that. Pedro plays to Hazard about 30 yards out, returns the pass to the Spaniard who digs out a shot that clips Olsson’s heel and skips past Myhill. Lucky with the deflection, but that was nicely direct stuff from Chelsea.
GOAL! West Brom 0-1 Chelsea (Pedro 20)
Well that’s a splendid way to start.
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18 mins: Morrison absolutely zings a free kick across from the right, Dawson rises to win the header above a fairly leaden-footed Chelsea defence, but his effort goes over.
17 mins: The first yellow of the day goes to Matic, whose name is taken after legging Morrison up. The West Brom man, perhaps worryingly for Chelsea, was just too quick for him there.
16 mins: Costa looks keen today. He’s running around like a man with a point to prove and in a hurry to prove it, but the attack eventually dies out when West Brom clear and Rondon is fouled near the centre circle.
PENALTY SAVED!
14 mins: Morrison insisted on taking that ahead of Chris Brunt, he puts it straight down the middle and Courtois, diving to his left, channels Bodo Illgner by saving with his legs.
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PENALTY TO WEST BROM!
Matic clumsily trips McManaman, and there’s no doubt there.
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12 mins: Smashing football from Morrison, who plays an ersatz version of that cross from Beckham to Ronaldo for Rondon behind the Chelsea defence, the difference this time being that Rondon put the volley wide, and the lino stuck his flag up.
11 mins: Fabregas looks for a defence-splitter and his ol’ pal Pedro, but it’s just too far ahead of the new kid.
9 mins: Boaz Myhill deals well - both on the pitch and emotionally - with an absolutely rancid backpass from Chris Brunt, that he has to control on his chest and punt the thing clear.
7 mins: Ivanovic looks for the long ball up to Costa, but McAuley gets there just ahead of the Spain forward. Mourinho is wearing a suit with trainers - probably a sensible practical option, given the slippery top, but you have to question his sartorial choices here. OR IS IT MIND GAMES?
5 mins: And then at the other end, Costa gets the ball on the edge of the box, spins nicely to create the space but drags the left-footed shot across goal and wide. Good start - and, it’s raining. Excellent.
Updated
4 mins: Minor chaos in the Chelsea box. A cross comes over from the right and skips up off the turf, eluding a couple of defenders and causing Courtois some problems, but McClean in the middle can’t put away the loose ball.
3 mins: Hazard does very nicely to spin and create some space in the middle, but the Chelsea attack eventually breaks down. Looks like Pedro is giving it the proper chalk-on-boots treatment in this one.
1 min: We’re off. West Brom on the attack straight away, as McManaman tries a couple of crosses - the first is blocked by Azpilicueta, the second skips harmlessly into the arms of Courtois.
The players are on the pitch. The formalities - the coin toss, the handshakes, the big hug between Mourinho and Pulis - are done, and we’re ready to away.
FACTS Pulis has won 2 #BPL games against Mourinho, no manager has won 3 against Jose http://t.co/rOMsWaSbOp #WBA #CFC pic.twitter.com/lgxgFPzW43
— Stats Zone (@StatsZone) August 23, 2015
Mourinho does have the air of a man sick of all this guff. “I don’t have to tell you,” he shrugs when asked by the Sky bod why Kurt Zouma is in the team ahead of Gary Cahill. Fair enough.
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Hey, look at this - it’s not all about football. Well, obviously it basically is, but there are other sports too. Jessica Ennis-Hill has just won the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships. Ian McCourt is yer man for that, over here.
Good news, literature fans. Morrissey has a novel coming out! We can only hope he refrains from saying any absolutely ghastly things about the Chinese.
And with Pedro starting in this one, here’s Sid Lowe’s piece about the new man from Tenerife, via Barcelona:
Víctor Valdés says I have a flower in my bum,” he admitted after the World Cup. Rectal foliage is a Spanish way of saying he’s lucky. As Xavi said: “It’s not normal to achieve in a year what the rest of us took an entire career to do.” But it is not luck; the evidence became too great. Last week, against Sevilla, he scored his 99th goal, averaging just under one every three games.
“It’s time we took Pedro seriously,” Guardiola had said after he scored in a 2-0 win at the Bernabéu in April 2010, taking Barcelona top and effectively clinching the title. It may be five years ago now, yet somehow the sentiment still carries some relevance even though Guardiola was right when he said Pedro would “write history here, in golden letters”. Twenty-two trophies he has won.
So a debut for Pedro in the Chelsea team, while Kurt Zouma replaces Gary Cahill, rather than John Terry as he did against Manchester City. No Juan Cuadrado on the bench, possibly suggesting he’s on his way out, continuing the curse of the back-up winger at Chelsea.
Along similar lines Saido Berahino isn’t involved for West Brom, and with no real word about any injury in the build-up to this one, that would seem to indicate that a move to Tottenham is either close, or is distracting him enough to merit his omission. Elsewhere, Solomon Rondon makes his full debut, while Rickie Lambert drops to the bench and Craig Gardner is out too, as James McClean and Callum McManaman come in.
Team news
West Bromwich Albion
Myhill; Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Brunt; McManaman, Morrison, Fletcher (c), Yacob, McClean; Rondon. Subs: Rose, Chester, Lescott, Gardner, Gnabry, Anichebe, Lambert.
Chelsea
Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Pedro, Willian, Hazard; Diego Costa. Subs: Begovic, Cahill, Mikel, Loftus-Cheek, Traore, Remy, Falcao.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Co. Durham)
Preamble
Chelsea are rubbish now. Everyone says so. Even Jose Mourinho. John Terry is done, they don’t have anything in midfield, Diego Costa isn’t and will never be fit, talk of Eden Hazard being in any way comparable to Cristiano Ronaldo or Leo Messi is absurd. Jose himself has flipped and has turned from an arch mind-game merchant into a man shouting at a cloud.
Of course nobody is actually saying that. Or at least if they are then they should be taken out back and given a sound thrashing with a wet slipper. There are genuine causes for concern about Chelsea’s nascent season, especially since Mourinho’s title-winning campaigns tend to start fast and stay fast, whereas this one has started like a wheezing, well, John Terry with the hope it might quicken at some point soon. This whole business about them starting their pre-season training a week or so later might wash as an excuse for a few more weeks, but not much longer than that. The benefit of a proper rest over the summer will presumably come later on in the season, but for the moment it seems to be kicking Chelsea in the pants.
And Jose isn’t happy. He said so. Here:
I’m not happy at all, I’m not happy with anyone,” Mourinho said. “Not one [of the team]. We have one point from two matches and, first of all, I’m not happy with my own form because I’m used to getting better results than I’m getting now. I’m not happy with Branislav Ivanovic’s form, with Gary Cahill’s form, with John Terry’s form, with César Azpilicueta or Cesc Fàbregas’ form, Eden Hazard’s or Nemanja Matic’s. But, for me, the first thing is I’m not happy with my own form.
“The way to improve is to do what we’ve been doing this week: being more active in training; watching more videos of the opposition and our own performances; working harder. Even me. I go to the gym every day now to get fitter. Maybe I need more ‘action’ on the touchline, so I need to be fitter. I don’t like to lose, and the players have the same mentality I do, so we are not happy.”
Ah, the royal we. Should they come, how you say, a cropper at the Hawthorns today, then it’s unlikely that his mood will improve at all. Or maybe it will, actually. He is, after all, a contrary character, so maybe he’d be delighted with a defeat to Tony Pulis and chums.
Speaking of Pulis, did you know you can buy a book about him? Sure, he’s had a very decent career and, pound-for-pound, is one of the better managers in the Premier League, but come on now. The foreword is by Rory Delap. Because of course it is.
Anyway, life isn’t exactly tip-top and peachy at West Brom either in these opening few weeks. They were torn a new one by Manchester City (no disgrace etc, but seriously: torn a new one), couldn’t break Watford down then Pulis offered a vaguely chilling reminder of the circumstances in which he left Crystal Palace last year, specifically demanding additions in the transfer market. Of course West Brom then promptly didn’t sign Federico Fazio, his move from Tottenham breaking down just as it appeared to be done.
So this is a game between two teams who, while not exactly in a hot mess, are perhaps in a lukewarm mess. A mess the temperature of a cup of tea left out for 25 minutes or so. Or a freshly-served cake. So, what we’re saying is, this could be an entertaining shambles, or two teams terrified of losing another game, thus a match stodgier than week-old parkin. Such are the gambles of life.
Kick-off: 1.30pm BST.
Updated
Nick will be here shortly with live news from WBA v Chelsea. In the meantime, here’s Dominic Fifield’s preview:
Visits to The Hawthorns have had dire ramifications for recent Chelsea managers. André Villas Boas and Roberto di Matteo were ousted soon after defeats in the Black Country and, while the same fate will not await José Mourinho, this is still an awkward trip at a tricky time. The champions are enduring their worst start since 1998 and, having toasted the arrivals of Baba Rahman and Pedro Rodríguez, are anxious for a first win this term. Tony Pulis has beaten Mourinho with Crystal Palace and West Brom in the last 16 months. His own side’s slow start to the season could also do with a fillip.
Kick-off Sunday 1.30pm
Venue The Hawthorns
Last season West Bromwich Albion 3 Chelsea 0
Live Sky Sports 1
Referee Mark Clattenburg
This season G1, Y7, R0, 7.00 cards per game
Odds H 11-2 A 4-6 D 3-1
West Bromwich Albion
Subs from Rose, McClean, Olsson, Róndon, Gardner, McAuley, Yacob, Ideye, Anichebe, Sessègnon, Gamboa, Pocognoli, Nabi
Doubtful None
Injured Foster (knee, Oct)
Suspended None
Form LD
Discipline Y6 R0
Leading scorer n/a
Chelsea
Subs from Begovic, Blackman, Cahill, Aina, Mikel, Rahman, Ramires, Rémy, Cuadrado, Loftus-Cheek, Traoré, Falcao
Doubtful Courtois (knee), Pedro (match fitness)
Injured Oscar (calf, 29 Aug), Moses (groin, Sep)
Suspended None
Form DL
Discipline Y3 R1
Leading scorer Oscar 1
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